"Breeding-back" aims to restore or immitate extinct animals by selective breeding. This blog provides general information, the facts behind myths and news from various projects.

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Crossbreeding proposal: Maronesa x Chianina

I love
brainstorming about new crossbreeding herds that have not been tried by any of
the existing projects before, thinking about balancing the pro’s and con’s of
the breeds involved and how fast you might get success. There is one
crossbreeding idea that is in my mind for a few years now, and with this post I
want to outline why I think that this combination would be fast and effective.
I hope that someone who has more practical possibilities than I have reads it
and might be inspired.

I propose a
cross herd of Maronesa x Chianina. It becomes obvious why when comparing the pro’s
and con’s for both breeds – I go over it step by step.

Maronesa

Maronesa is
a breed from the Portuguese uplands and therefore used to precipitation and
cold temperature, as you can see in their well-developed winter coat and hairy
udders. It is, as all primitive landraces are, variable regarding the degree of
primitiveness. There are herds that have a more derived, more domestic body,
face and horns, but since one always has to pick the best individuals out of
each breed, let us ignore the very derived members of the breed. Surely
Maronesa has its deficiencies, and I am going to outline them later on, I am
going to sum up why I consider this breed very valuable for almost all aurochs
projects.

First of
all, the colour is almost always identical to that of the aurochs. It does not
have any of the annoying dilution alleles nor do they have tiny white spots
such as some Sayaguesa or Pajuna unfortunately do. And very importantly:
Maronesa is one of the very few breeds that almost always shows a consistent
sexual dimorphism in colour (dichromatism). Some cows are darker than others,
some are even bull-coloured, but the majority has a dark brown or reddish brown
chestnut colour and bulls never retain a colour saddle. This is very valuable,
as sexual dimorphism is a complicated trait that is probably not to be
restorable by conventional breeding (just always picking dark bulls and lightly
coloured cows in a cross herd probably will not do it). So it is very practical
to have a breed where this complicated trait is still alright.

Many Maronesa have a colour that is perfectly aurochs-like

Secondly,
Maronesa is one of the very few breeds that has individuals with horns curving
inwards decently. This trait is a rarity among primitive breeds and you see
that it is the only trait that is lacking in most individuals of breeding-back
projects. Surely, there are a lot of Maronesa cows with corkscrewed horns and
bulls with comparably strait horns, but also a lot with aurochs-like horns.
Suitable Maronesa individuals would probably improve the horn curvature of any
breeding-back project.

Horns curving inwards that decently are a rarety among aurochs-like cattle

Especially in bulls

This is
why I would appreciate the use of good Maronesa in virtually any breeding-back
project.

Now to the
deficiencies: What is rather obvious from a lot Maronesa individuals, also the
very good ones, is that their snouts are too short. Many have a paedomorphic
face, some even a “bulldog face”. Of course there is variation as well, and in
some cows the snout length is ok, but still needs improvement. Bulls, on the
other hand, are almost always too short-snouted. Furthermore, Maronesa is not a
large breed. According to the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, the
size for bulls is 140cm, for cow 130cm at the shoulders. Surely there are also
larger and smaller individuals, but it is a plausible mean height and makes it
about as small as Heck cattle. As a third drawback, while many cows have a good
body shape and are proportioned aurochs-like, many bulls appear not that long-legged
or actually short-legged and have a comparably heavy body.

Chianina

It is no
secret that this Italian breed is the largest cattle breed in the world.
Therefore, its quality in this respect is obvious. But Chianina are not only
large, but the right individuals are also of a tall build and have a slender,
tight body. Therefore, Chianina is very advantageous for achieving aurochs-like
size and proportions. The skull shape is neither long nor short, nor is it
paedomorphic. The horns of Chianina are unfortunately tiny and but sometimes of
a useful shape. Chianina has dilution alleles on at least two loci (Dun,
Agouti), perhaps even more, that remove all the pigment from the coat. One of
these loci is semi-dominant and therefore easy to purge, but the others are
recessive and therefore difficult to breed out again.

Chianina bull and cow with a long-legged, slender body

To sum up
the pro’s and con’s of both breeds:

Maronesa

Pro:

Correct
aurochs colour with well-marked sexual dimorphism

Inwards-curving
aurochs-like horns in both sexes

Suited to
harsh Central European climate

Some cows
with aurochs-like proportions and body shape

Con:

Mostly
short faced, especially the bulls

Some bulls
are rather heavy

Comparably
small size

Chianina

Pro:

Large and
tall

Good body
shape in both sexes

Con:

Horns very
small

Dilution
factors reducing and removing the pigment

So as you
see, both breed complement each other perfectly in almost all respects. A cross
herd of Maronesa x Chianina individuals bears the potential for large,
aurochs-like proportioned animals in both sexes that have a powerful build with
a correct colour and well-expressed sexual dichromatism. Surely, the
semi-dominant and recessive dilution alleles would have to be bred out, and
that takes its time, but that is a problem that all current projects face.
Concerning sexual dichromatism, it is likely that Chianina has preserved some
degree of sexual dichromatism masked beneath the dilution alleles, as the
Sayaguesa x Chianina crosses of the ABU suggest. Choosing the right individuals
would enable the achievement of a very aurochs-like horn curvature. So the
results would come pretty close to the goal, and they would probably also do
well in Central European climate.

But it
would not be perfect, of course. For example, this combination might need some
boost in horn volume. The horns of Chianina are tiny, while those of Maronesa
are medium-sized to more or less long, but often not thick enough, and Chianina
would shrink that further down (however, there is the chance that crossbreeding
results can have horns larger than the founding breeds due to genetics, just as
nobody would expect Chianina-sized horns on a Heck x Sayaguesa F2). So which
breed would be suitable to boost the horn volume in a herd of good Maronesa x
Chianina? I would pick well-horned Heck cattle of the Wörth lineage for a
number of reasons. First of all, the number of aurochs-like breeds with truly
large and thick horns is very limited. Barrosa, Cachena and Podolian breeds
might have long horns, but they are usually not nearly as thick as in the most
impressive Wörth Heck individuals. Texas Longhorn have impressive horns, but
they are very wide-ranging and would therefore mess up the horn curvature while
that of many Wörth Hecks is ok. Additionally, one would not introduce any further
undesirable colour variants with Wörth Heck cattle, where dilution alleles have
been largely purged out and white spots do not appear. And, another advantage,
Heck cattle are suited perfectly to central European climate and develop a long
and dense winter coat. So in order to achieve an aurochs-like horn volume, I
would start breeding with the Maronesa x Chianina crossbreeds, breeding them as
aurochs-like as possible and see how large the horns will get. Then, when the
horn volume does not seem to reach the appointments, I would cautiously add one
large-horned Wörth Heck cow and then use a bull that is either quarter Wörth
Heck or a good F2 for further breeding, and then remove the Heck cow again.

Snout
length might also be deficient in this combination. For this trait I would
include a long-snouted Sayaguesa cow in the same manner as just described.

A plea for
more Maronesa

Maronesa is currently used only in the Tauros Project, but one of those breeds that are very practicable for breeding-back as you get a
lot of desirable traits at once. Another one is Sayaguesa, where you get traits
like size, good body shape, long snouts, and horns facing forwards at once. Sayaguesa
has proven its value and is therefore currently used in all aurochs projects. Maronesa
surely has its deficiencies that are as obvious as its advantages, but that
goes for Sayaguesa as well (such as the very reduced dichromatism, hanging back
in many individuals, lyre-shaped horns in many cows). It is always the
challenge of compensating the negative traits with a suitable breed and selecting
against them. And as Taurus cattle have shown, it is possible to successfully correct
negative traits such as small size and short snouts by using a large (Chianina)
and long-snouted breed (Sayaguesa) and achieve large animals with long snouts.

The True
Nature Foundation works on improving aurochs-like Maronesa at the moment. Choosing
the right individuals and effective selection might produce a Maronesa strain
that is very valuable for other aurochs projects. I guess that most individuals
that are sold will be bulls, so it might be possible for other projects to
acquire young bulls at least.

Margret
Bunzel-Drüke once considered the possibility that Maronesa might be good for
the Taurus cattle at the Lippeaue, but concluded that it would deplete the
achieved success regarding size, long snouts and slender build, especially in
bulls, again and I understand that conclusion. Individuals with inwards-facing
horns are present in the Lippeaue anyway, just their abundance has to be
increased. But for other projects, I think that using Maronesa in some form
would be helpful, especially for achieving aurochs-like horn shapes. Even
“usual” Heck cattle would profit from crossing-in Maronesa. Some Heck breeders
fear that crossing with large primitive breeds would result in calving problems
in pure Heck cows. This worry would not exist with Maronesa, because both
breeds are of the same size. Also, Maronesa would not alter the identity of
Heck cattle that much – the animals would still be of the same size, same
colour and short-faced. They would just have better horns. But single
crossing-in of good Maronesa would
probably make the good genes drown in the un-coordinated chaos that the Heck cattle
population is as a whole. Considering the rareness of Maronesa and especially
the aurochs-like Maronesa it would be a waste; it would only make sense in
herds of really good Heck cattle in the hands of breeders paying attention to
really aurochs-like traits, such as the former Wörth herd.

PS: Maltese
cattle

One might
ask why I haven’t proposed Maltese cattle as an option to cross with Maronesa
instead of Chianina. They are about the same size and also excellently shaped,
more long-snouted and have a wildtype coloured-coat instead of a diluted one
(genes for diluted coats should be in the population though, as they were
crossbred with Chianina). So they seem like a better option. But the problem
is, the population of this breed is very small (2 herds consisting of 12 males
and 19 females in 2015, see here), so they might be very difficult to acquire.

13 comments:

When two breeds that both have several disadvantages are combined, then it's likely that their offspring will have disadvantages too. So this way will need a lot of balancing...The last living auroch weren't that big, i think maybe at the end breeding really big cattle will just make a disadvantage if it's seriously about rewildering, because that flora is also extinct.

I am aware of the basic principles of breeding. That's why the projects do not just cross breeds but cross end select. The last living aurochs were smaller likely due to habitat restriction, so that was an anthropogenic effect. And I do not know what extinct flora you are talking about and suspect you are aurochs1.

....Probably we should breed all megaherbivores to smaller sizes. So we can release them in larger numbers... We should also breed elk and deer with smaller antlers, it would save them a lot of minerals and makes them less attractive for poachers. Please more elaboration before commenting.

I think if a habitat supports especially large cattle, then a rewildered population would generate itself somewhat larger individuals over time, due to natural selection.And if breeders focuss on size then this could distract from focussing on other features...and at the end it may be questionable if this makes an advantage.

So i don't know how big aurochs were at wich time, however here is a study from 2013, i just overflied it, maybe it's a point of inerest. On page 259/260 it says, for example :"4.3 Summary...The results of this study, along with the previous section on Italy (Section 3.5) have also provided more evidence that the greatest decrease in size, may have taken place during the last interglacial.""evidence of an increase in the size of a number of different anatomical elements in Chalcolithic samples from both Portugal and Spain. No other areas show a size increase during this period"...or on page 281 :"...and that the most distinct size decrease may have taken place at around the time of the last interglacial (MIS 5). The most likely factor causing these fluctuations is climate." http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6572/1/Wright%202013%20Thesis.pdfSo the question would be if the auroch-like-cattle is bred to ice-age-size, and if it is : would it give them an advantage now...

In the end we wouldn't have to breed for aurochs-like horns since the horn shape of the aurochs was very likely functional and would have been favoured by selection. Also the body shape and proportions. So in the end, breeding on optical traits might focus on the trait influenced the least by selection: colour. The other traits would probably (re)develop after time.

I am not in favour of this.

By the way. Each reserve is a little island compared to the original habitat of a megaherbivore. This is also true for each reserve the wisent is currently living on. If we humans would keep them confined like this for some more centuries, wisent would end up the same size of farm cattle or smaller because it is more advantageous. Should we breed wisents for smaller size now? No.

Maybe in a way it's true. If the auroch-like genes are still around in a population, maybe just drop it in a habitat with some predators around. And now : just wait.Maybe just take 1 million individulas and wait 1 million years, and maybe they will select themselves for auroch-traits.However, if one looks at other species, if it's wolf or boar or whatever, the individuals within a species mostly look the same, but if they are populating a greater area then size within a species can vary. Maybe a big wolf weights about four times as much as a small one, and in boar it's even more.So Chianina have impressive bodies, but i think it will be hardly possible to cross them that way that auroch-like heads get attached on that bodies, just because there are no animals of other breeds of this size that have the rigth proportions. So if one wants auroch-like proportions within Chianina-crosses then Chianina has to get watered down, so the animals would become smaller again and with this one would drop that Chianina-advantage...

No, crossbreeding and selecting is always about balancing traits, just as you wrote. Of course it is possible to breed animals the size and proportions of Chianina with "aurochs like heads attached" to them. Look at the Taurus bull 42 623 that has a more "aurochs like head" than any Chianina (thought still not long-snouted enough) that is the size of Chianina (at least 170cm at the shoulders).

Maltese breed can be used with artificial insemination, using Maltese bull's sperm, f.ex.This two breeds are definitly among my favorites, but no doubts Sayaguesa is also a must. I also like Camargue, Franqueiro, some Lidia, Maremmana primitivo, Pajuna, Raça Preta and Serrana de teruel. All of them have interesting aspects.

I am excited to read your alternative breed post! Are there any obstacles to getting some Maltese Bull sperm to use for artificial insemination? What are the costs? Are the organizations that are in charge of the Maltese Ox back-breeding project open to parting with some sperm from their bulls?

About this blog

This blog is on everything related to the so-called “breeding-back” of extinct animals: From the extinct animals themselves, over their often domestic descendants and dedomestication to news and facts about various breeding-back projects, reports and photos from my own breeding-back related trips. I try to have a balanced and fact-based approach to this subject and to dismantle many of the popular myths. Enjoy!

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About me

I am an Austrian student of biology/zoology at the University of Vienna. My major interest always have been extinct animals, from dinosaurs to Pleistocene megafauna and more recent extinctions. Besides that I am interested in evolution, genetics and ecology.
I am also an amateur animal artist, making drawings and models mostly of extinct animals.